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Land Use, Housing & Zoning
7 East 19th Street, within the Ladies' Mile Historic District, application to convert the 2nd thru 5th Floors of a five story building from commercial to residential use.
WHEREAS, 7 East 19th Street is a 5-story, 10,930 square foot building, currently vacant, located in a M1-5M zoning district within the Ladies' Mile Historic District; and
WHEREAS, The applicant, Seveneast 19 LLC, is seeking authorization pursuant to ZR 15-20(b) to allow a multi-family residential use on the 2nd through 5th stories of the project site, along with ground floor retail space; and
WHEREAS, The project was granted a certification in 1996 to convert floors 3, 4 and 5 to residential use, while maintaining the first and second stories for conforming commercial or manufacturing uses; and
WHEREAS, Landmarks Preservation Commission issued a Certificate of Appropriateness for the current design, which includes extensive façade and landmark restoration, as well as a legally-binding maintenance plan (within a restrictive declaration) that will guarantee the preservation of the building in perpetuity; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five recognizes that if this application is not approved, the applicant is entitled to develop floors 3, 4, and 5 as residential use pursuant to the previous approval, but without the restoration work or the legally-binding maintenance plan recorded as a restrictive declaration on the property; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five believes it is in the city's long term interest to maintain commercial and manufacturing uses in our district and therefore typically strongly opposes the conversion of non-residential floor area to residential floor area; and
WHEREAS, Community Board Five also recognizes that this project presents a unique case in that it will result in a net gain of only one residential unit while ensuring that the entirety of the building is restored and that the building owner is legally obligated to perform significant restoration work and maintain the property, in perpetuity, as a contributing building within the Ladies Mile Historic District; therefore be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends approval of the application by 7 East 19th Street that would authorize the conversion of the 2nd floor of a five story building from commercial to residential use in exchange for the full historic restoration of the entirety of the building coupled with a legally-binding maintenance plan recorded as a restrictive declaration.